Presidential and politican history from 1970-1979: on War & Peace

Richard Nixon: Sent Israel 550-plane airlift during 1973 war

I asked, "Why send only 3?" The reply was that 3 was the maximum the Pentagon felt the political situation could bear.

I said I would take responsibility for the politics. I knew we would take no more heat for sending 30 than sending 3. "Use every one we have," I said. "Tell them to send everything that can fly." Our 550-mission airlift, which was far bigger than the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, helped the Israelis prevail and set the stage for successful shuttle diplomacy, which produced mutual withdrawal agreements on both fronts.

Richard Nixon: 1975 loss in Vietnam led to Communism in Laos & Cambodia

After its victory, our fears were confirmed when the Vietnamese Communists quickly took over Cambodia and Laos and overtly threatened Thailand.

Even so, we attained part of our goal. We preserved the freedom of our friends and allies for more than a decade. More important, by holding off the North Vietnamese until the mid 1970's, the regions developing countries won valuable time. Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew said, "American involvement in Vietnam had given Southeast Asia 10 years of breathing space."

John Kerry: US soldiers committed atrocities in Vietnam, including me

A: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, contrary to the Geneva Conventions, and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the US. And I believe that the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, are war criminals.

John Kerry: Vietnam didn't threaten US; US war crimes did

They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war.

We call this the Winter Soldier Investigation. The term Winter Soldier is a play on words of Thomas Paine's in 1776 when he spoke of the summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough. We feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of the crimes that threaten this country, not reds & not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out.

John Kerry: Vietnam war was criminal hypocrisy and tore apart US

We found that not only was it a civil war, an effort by a people who had for years been seeking their liberation from colonial influence. We found most people didn't even know the difference between communism and democracy. They only wanted to work in rice paddies without helicopters strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and tearing their country apart. We found also that all too often American men were dying in those rice paddies for want of support from their allies. We saw first hand how monies from American taxes were used for a corrupt dictatorial regime.

John Kerry: O'Neil: Kerry's VVAW comments are libel against veterans

Never in the course of human events have so many been libeled by so few.

This man has attempted the murder of the reputations of two and a half million of us, including the 55,000 dead in Vietnam, and he will never be brought to justice. We can only seek justice and equity from the American people. Every man kills the thing he loves. By each let this be told: The brave man does it with the sword; the coward with the word.

John Kerry: VVAW says what's wrong so we can put out country right

We thought we were a moral country, yes, but we are now engaged in the most rampant bombing in the history of mankind. We have dropped more bombs on Laos than we dropped in the entire course of World War II. And I think the question of morality really has to enter in here.

John Kerry: War crimes by leadership policy, not personal atrocities

Q: Did you see war crimes committed?

KERRY: I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense that I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that. However, I did take part in free fire zones and I did take part in harassment interdiction fire. I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground. And all of these, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva Conventions and to the laws of warfare. So anybody who took part in those, is in fact guilty. But we're not trying to find war criminals. What we're looking for is an examination of our policy, particularly by the leaders, to examine the policy at the highest level.

John Kerry: Vietnamization just changed the color of the bodies fighting

KERRY: You should change [your group's] name from Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace to Vietnam Veterans for a Continued War because that in fact is really what Vietnamization is. It is nothing more than a way of getting the United States out of Vietnam by changing the colors of the bodies in that country. It's a military solution in a problem that requires a very sophisticated political solution. In the end [it may] intricate us into a much deeper war. [At best it will] allow us to withdraw in time for the elections of next year when the president can say, "Yes, indeed, we did withdraw," at which time more Americans will have lost their lives and more Vietnamese will have lost their lives needlessly.

John Kerry: US actions in Vietnam were counter to Geneva Conventions

KERRY: Did you serve in a free fire zone?

O'NEILL: I certainly did serve in a free fire zone.

KERRY: [Reading] "Free fire zone, in which we kill anything that moves - man, woman or child." This practice suspends the distinction between combatant and non-combatant and contravenes Geneva Convention Article 3.1.

O'NEILL: Where is that from?

KERRY: Geneva Conventions. You've heard about the Geneva Conventions. Yes, we did participate in war crimes in Coastal Division 11 because we took part in free fire zones, harassment, interdiction fire, and search-and-destroy missions. [Didn't you] see huts along the sides of the rivers that were totally destroyed? You never burned a village?

O'NEILL: No, I never burned a village, that's absolutely correct. We'd never do anything dishonorable.

John Kerry: Objected to war policy while in Vietnam, and after

KERRY: The members of Coastal Division 11 when I was in Vietnam were fighting the policy very hard, to the point that many of the members were refusing to carry out orders on some of their missions; to the point where my commanding officer was relieved of duty because he pressed our objections. After I received my third wound, I was told that I could return to the US. I deliberated for about two weeks but I finally made the decision to go back because I felt that I could do more against the war back here. I requested that I be released from the Navy early because of my opposition, and I was granted that release, and I have been working against the war ever since then.

O'NEILL: I served in Coastal Division 11 for 12 months. I never saw any moral protest there. I think that the story Mr. Kerry has told is in large measure prevarication.

Jimmy Carter: No US war in Yugoslavia even if Soviet Union sent in troops

CARTER: According to the leaders in Yugoslavia, there is no prospect of the Soviet Union invading Yugoslavia should Mr. Tito pass away. The present leadership there is fairly uniform in their purpose. I think it's a close-knit group. I would never go to war--or become militarily involved in the internal affairs of another country--unless our own security was directly threatened. And I don't believe that our security would be directly threatened if the Soviet Union went into Yugoslavia. I don't believe it will happen.

FORD: I firmly believe that it's unwise for a President to signal in advance what options he might exercise if any international problem arose.

Richard Nixon: Vietnam goals: de-Americanize; pacify; then withdrawal

Our goals were:
• Reverse the "Americanization" of the war that had occurred from 1965 to 1968 and concentrate instead on Vietnamization.
• Give more priority to pacification so that the South Vietnamese could be better able to extend their control over the countryside.
• Reduce the invasion threat by destroying enemy sanctuaries and supply lines in Cambodia and Laos.
• Withdraw the half million American troops from Vietnam in a way that would not bring about a collapse in the South.
• Negotiate a cease-fire and a peace treaty.
• Demonstrate our willingness and determination to stand by our ally if the peace agreement was violated by Hanoi, and assure South Vietnam that it would continue to receive our military aid.